Participants gather around the family as a vigil for missing person Zane Plemmons is held at the Westover Hills Assembly of God Church on July 7, 2012.

Participants gather around the family as a vigil for missing person Zane Plemmons is held at the Westover Hills Assembly of God Church on July 7, 2012.

Photo: Tom Reel, San Antonio Express-News

Image 2 of 3

Maria Plemmons reads a passage in Spanish as her daughter (from left) Lizanne holds on to her husband Mike Sanchez with friend Katy Gomez as a vigil for missing person Zane Plemmons is held at the Westover Hills Assembly of God Church on July 7, 2012.

Maria Plemmons reads a passage in Spanish as her daughter (from left) Lizanne holds on to her husband Mike Sanchez with friend Katy Gomez as a vigil for missing person Zane Plemmons is held at the Westover

“I really feel like prayer in numbers helps,” said his sister, Lizanne Sanchez. “If we get together and pray that God will give us an understanding of what his plan is, then it's not in vain.”

Family members described Plemmons — who was born in Mexico and is the son of a former U.S. Marine — as a one-time journalist with an eye for crime coverage, photography and videography.

His family believes he was kidnapped sometime after his mother checked him into a Nuevo Laredo hotel, when he missed a bus to Mexico's west coast to visit relatives. He planned to take another bus the next morning but never arrived at his destination.

Boy carted off in ambulance after S.A. shooting as relatives scream in anguishSan Antonio Express-News

Sanchez said her mother returned to the city Tuesday to speak with police but said there have been no further updates.

“If this were something that had happened in the United States, we would have search parties all over it,” Sanchez said. “Why is it any different just because it's across the border?”

Sanchez also said the family has been working with the U.S. Consulate General there but has not received much information.

“When they find bodies, I call and all they can tell me is, ‘We assure you it's not your brother,' ” she said.

Sanchez said there have been no ransom demands, no withdrawals from his bank account and no activity on his Facebook page.

During the vigil, loved ones clasped yellow candles and shared fond memories of Plemmons. At one point, they surrounded the family, laid hands on them and prayed.

One friend, Cuyler Ayers, recalled taking a photograph of Plemmons staring skyward. It sat next to an offering of flowers at the vigil. Ayers said she took the photo outside a cathedral in a village Plemmons loved near Mazatlán, Mexico, last December.

“There's something more there than cartel violence and death,” said Ayers of the country Plemmons was drawn back to. “That's why he had such a passion for it.”

Before tearfully reading aloud from the Bible, his mother, Maria Plemmons, said, “I know in my heart that he'll be back.”